Released in April 1990, November Spawned A Monster shocked an awful lot of people with its candid lyrics about disability. Some weren’t sure if Morrissey was mocking the wheelchair-bound or whether he was championing their cause.
Sleep on and dream of love
Because it’s the closest you will get to love
Poor twisted child, so ugly, so ugly
Poor twisted child. oh hug me, oh hug me
One November spawned a monster in the shape of this child who later cried
“But Jesus made me, so Jesus save me
From pity, sympathy and people discussing me”
A frame of useless limbs what can make good all the bad that’s been done?
And if the lights were out could you even bear
To kiss her full on the mouth (or anywhere?)
Poor twisted child so ugly, so ugly
Poor twisted child oh hug me, oh hug me
One November spawned a monster in the shape of this child
Who must remain a hostage to kindness and the wheels underneath her
A hostage to kindness and the wheels underneath her
A symbol of where mad, mad lovers must pause and draw the line
So sleep and dream of love
Because it’s the closest you will get to love
That November is a time which I must put out of my mind
Oh one fine day let it be soon
She won’t be rich or beautiful
But she’ll be walking your streets
In the clothes that she went out and chose for herself
It was a song I found really disturbing on its release, and even all these years later, it still makes me uncomfortable. But then again, I’ve no doubt that was the whole point and intention behind its writing and recording.
It’s a tune which is one of the most unusual across the solo material…it’s almost driven along by a dance-beat akin to Barbarism Begins At Home….and again given the subject matter, that can interpreted as a bit of a sick joke. But just as the tune is bouncing along, and the dancers are in the midst of throwing the Morrissey shapes, it slows right down and Mary Margaret O’Hara comes in and starts screaming….
I read many years ago at the time of its release that she was asked to go to the studio and make noises as if she was having a painful and difficult birth. Given this, the lyric does begin to make some literal sense….the child in question was not planned, and to complicate matters for the mad mad lovers who failed to pause and draw the line, nine months later they have a daughter whose physical appearance and dependencies make it so difficult for them to love her….but who think everything will be fine if there is some sort of miraculous recovery…..
So….maybe the song isn’t really about disability and it’s actually a cautionary tale to those who were prepared to sleep around without thinking of the consequences….
Other people have got their own theories. I read once on a forum one fan’s view that the song is a parallel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – a monster created in November but who was unloved by its ‘parent’. The monster then had to endure a life of misery and loneliness (a regular theme in many Morrissey songs), and this is going to be the fate of the girl in the song. The fan goes as far to comment that Morrissey is making a really strong statement here that society judges people on their looks alone….
Someone else makes reference to the accompanying video which they feel mocks so many others of its time, with Morrissey wriggling around in the desert making himself look ludicrous to emphasise the point that image and beauty isn’t everything…
Your own thoughts dear readers????
mp3 : Morrissey – November Spawned A Monster
Oh and the two extra songs on the 12″ and CD single are well worth a listen as well:-
mp3 : Morrissey – He Knows I’d Love To See Him
mp3 : Morrissey – Girl Least Likely To
The latter is probably the nearest thing we’ve ever had to a song that could have come straight from the days of The Smiths since the break-up – it was co-written by Andy Rourke.
Facts and figures time. It reached #12 in the UK singles charts. The image on the sleeve is by celebrated rock photographer Anton Corbjin…
Oh and just in case there’s any doubt….November remains one of my favourite ever Morrissey releases.
Enjoy.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I always thought it was a comment on how the disabled and afflicted are regarded and treated by society. Interesting other interpretations though, can’t disagree with any of them.
Probably Morrissey’s most layered track and for me, the one you can’t ignore. The interpretations about society, responsibility for your decisions, and even, possibly, the shock effect of the lyrics themselves seem like something Morrissey had in mind. But I always take the end verse as hopeful, as Morrissey believing in the possibility of positive change.